European Platform to enhance cooperation in the prevention and deterrence of undeclared work

This note seeks to provide an initial analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of the European Commission's Impact Assessment (IA) accompanying the Commission proposal for a Decision on establishing a European Platform to enhance cooperation in the prevention and deterrence of undeclared work. Overall, the impression is that the Initial Appraisal did not benefit from a sufficiently thorough assessment and analysis, in particular as regards the options and their impacts. A more detailed and developed evidence base would have been helpful in contributing to a better understanding of the scale of the problem, in particular with regard to its cross-border dimension, and of the added value of cross-border mandatory cooperation between Member States in tackling undeclared work. This note, prepared by the Ex-Ante Impact Assessment Unit for the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs of the European Parliament, analyses whether the principal criteria laid down in the Commission's own Impact Assessment Guidelines, as well as additional factors identified by the Parliament in its Impact Assessment Handbook, appear to be met by the IA. It does not attempt to deal with the substance of the proposal. It is drafted for informational and background purposes to assist the relevant parliamentary committee(s) and Members more widely in their work.